Beyond the Burg
Compiled by Camille Thompson

Survey determines student priorities
(U-WIRE) SAN DIEGO - What is on top of your priority list?

Chances are not your schoolwork, according to a 2002 study conducted by the National Survey of Student Engagement.

The results of the study came from randomly selected freshman and senior students from hundreds of four-year colleges and universities across the nation.

The study said school was not on the top of most students' priority list. Instead, they are spending more time on the Internet, socializing and working.

Sophomore Gina Voller said on her list of priorities, school comes before the Internet, but the Web still distracts her and makes it easy to procrastinate.

"It is not that it is more important, it is just more appealing, most of the time," she said.

Junior Julia Grammy said school is one of her top priorities, but there are some things that rank higher.

Grammy said she does not miss class much but is willing to if an old friend is in town or something is happening with her family.

Biology professor Gail Sabbadini said for any student in college, school should be a top priority.

"To me, the definition of a college student is one whose top priority is their college education," Sabbadini said.

The study also said that faculty members who were surveyed advised that full-time students should spend about 25 hours per week studying outside of class to be successful. This is roughly two hours of studying for every one hour in class.

However, the student results did not show this occurring on campuses. The study found only 14 percent of full-time students doing the suggested amount of studying, while more than 41 percent were studying for 10 hours or less. Many students on campus coincide with the results from the study, saying that studying for 25 hours is not necessary to do well in school.

Sophomore Mark Styles said he studies six to eight hours a week but more around exam time, and still finds himself getting good grades. However, he did say that the further he gets into his upper-division classes, the more he will need to study Š

By Melinda Walker, The Daily Aztec (San Diego State U.)

Stocks soar due to Iraqi conflict
(U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Stock prices soared on Wall Street Monday when the uncertainty surrounding the nation for the past four months started to clear up as signs showed the war with Iraq is imminent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index surged by 282.21 points -- or 3.6 percent -- to 8141.92. The triple-digit gain created the year's best single-day performance and pushed the index back up to the 8,000-point level for the first time since Feb. 21.

The frantic trading atmosphere was not limited to the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index -- the Nasdaq Composite Index and S&P 500 Index also jumped up by 3.9 and 3.5 percent, respectively.

"The market is up today because of information saying that war is going to start soon and end soon," University of Michigan business professor Nejat Seyhun said. With various reports supporting the fact that the current gap of military strength between the United States and Iraq is even larger than the Gulf War's, most Americans are expecting a quick victory over Iraq.

"The stock market hates uncertainties hanging over," business professor E. Han Kim said. With more signs that the U.S.-led attack on Iraq will most likely begin within days "people can make a better sense of what might happen," he said.

Kim added that the rallies did not mean the stock markets favor war but it indicated that investors welcome visibility in the future. Š

But Sloan said the impact of the war with Iraq would depend on the development of the situation.

"One thing that could happen is that things get wiped up pretty quickly, oil prices come down and that could sort of revitalize the economy," Sloan said. "But if things get blocked down, there's a good chance that we'd just stuck in the bottom of the cycle like we are now."

By Lydia K. Leung, Michigan Daily (U. Michigan)